It’s a question that has vexed whiskey lovers for years. Is Tennessee whiskey the same as bourbon? We asked Jack Daniel’s master distiller Jeff Arnett to give us a straight answer.
Tennesse is whiskey is bourbon. The makers of Tennessee whisky were smart enough to push for legislation to create Tennessee state law to make its own category.
That’s kind of correct. Brown Forman paid millions of dollars lobbying for this law to eat away at Dickel’s market share. That kind of behavior is in line with what BF did by watering down JD not once, but twice. 1987 JD was lowered from 90 proof to 86 proof and then again in 2002 to 80 proof. This was only done for a greater bottom line. BF said JD drinkers liked the lower proof, but we all know that’s BS. There are also bourbons made in Kentucky that are charcoal mellowed. For example, Ezra Brooks.
Bought my first JD product last Christmas, a Jack Daniel's Single Barrel. Very impressed and will be buying a second bottle soon. Cheers and thanks for this info.
I don’t agree with him when he arrogantly declares that Tennessee Whiskey is ‘certainly not less than a bourbon’. It most certainly is less than a bourbon. Not unlike chill-filtered whiskey, charcoal mellowing, too, is a form of filtration; it REMOVES some of the congeners that add additional flavors to a bourbon. The additional step (i.e. charcoal mellowing) doesn’t add anything to the final product - it removes some of the desired (and undesired) congeners that make up the flavor profile of a quality bourbon. Nothing against Tennessee Whiskey, and those who like it, but it certainly does NOT have the layers of flavor and the overall balanced structure of a quality bourbon.
What is not discussed is ageing. JD is like coca cola off the shelf, consistent and mass produced. When it’s aged or single barrel. It gets interesting and competes with Bourbon.
I've never been of fan of Number 7 but Gentleman Jack was my go to but I got tired of it, so I purchased a bottle of single barrel- barrel proof, it's like 128 proof, and hits perfectly
It all depends who you talk to. If you speak with a kentuckian we say hell naw. If you speak with a tennesseeian they say hell naw as well. Lol on a serious note they both taste drastically different.
Only someone who profits from Tennessee whiskey could claim it’s a Bourbon plus 1, so would adding flavouring or colour be bourbon plus one step as well?
Super late to the party, but adding colouring or flavouring isn’t allowed in bourbon, so if a distillery did that, they’d have to classify it as a flavoured whiskey. If that distillery just added colouring to their bourbon, it’d fall under the generic label of whiskey.
@@rafaelcarmo5562 There are whiskeys from outside Tennessee that use the Lincoln County Process or a similar filtration, but they cannot market themselves as Tennessee whiskey. And then there is the weirdo Prichard's.
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I'm not a big fan of Beam either, Wild Turkey is really good though. There are way better affordable Bourbons than Jim Beam too. Heaven Hill smokes Jim Beam and Jack Daniels, they make Elijah Craig, Evan Williams, and a bunch of others including their eponymous Heaven Hill Bottled in Bond, which isn't as chap as it used to be, but they added an extra year in age to make up for it. Wonderful whiskey
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW: YES, JACK DANIEL'S IS BOURBON. It meets ALL the federal requirements to qualify as BOURBON. There is an ADDITIONAL filtering process. This process does not in any way disqualify it from being BOURBON. Jack Daniel's simply CHOOSES not to call it "bourbon", as the State of Tennessee passed STATE legislation (not federal) which requires any BOURBON which uses the charcoal mellowing filtration process to qualify it as a "Tennessee Whiskey". Doing so, however, does NOT change the fact that it IS STILL A BOURBON. Don't let your idiot friends tell you otherwise.
I wouldn't clean my toilet with #7. Absolutely disgusting, I've never understood the appeal. You can drink it in fancy glasses if u want, but there's a reason everyone mixes it with cola.
Yea I’m not a fan of JD either. Their single barrel select offerings have been decent but their flagship #7 isn’t great. Plenty of other better actual bourbons out there
@@iess2006 Yea anyone I know who drinks whiskey & bourbon regularly doesn’t drink JD#7. They have a great story & marketing behind it and it’s done well money wise but I just think people don’t know any better. I’m that price range I prefer Elijah Craig, Larceny, Old Forester and even Evan Williams. I’m not a JD hater by any means I have a bottle JD Single Barrel Select on my cart right now just to try it but when you have other brands you realize oh this isn’t that great lol
The bottle itself is recognized around the world from a mile away and loved and respected by millions of drinkers you have no respect for the brand and the people that love JD, Stfu its not your taste and style.
That’s a common misconception. Bourbon is not required to be made in Kentucky. It is required to be made in the USA. But there are bourbons from all over the country that are legitimate bourbons.
Blake Davis not really. French export laws set up that specific situation to benefit themselves. There is bourbon being made/bottled right now all over the USA and it’s all legally bourbon. Educate yourself before you go around calling names, it becomes more of a reflection of yourself than an insult to the intended recipient.
Blake Davis This is just one of dozens of links available from an incredible useful and freely available search engine; google.com if you are ever in danger of coming off as unnecessarily ignorant and pompous in the future, just type in the subject matter and hit search. You will be directed to numerous helpful and informative pages, some more reliable than others... but lots of info. blog.distiller.com/bourbons-not-from-kentucky/
